Ellen is a second generation native New Yorker who is extremely proud to have grown up in the same neighborhood (Washington Heights) as both her parents and still resides there. Ellen credits growing up in NYC for fueling her love of cities and fostering her deep appreciation of how transformational access to safe, quality, and affordable housing can be. Ellen has filled a variety of roles related to real estate development across the public, private, and non-profit sectors. Most recently she served as SVP, Affordable & Workforce Housing for the Albanese Organization. Ellen has a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from the University at Albany, a Master of Public Policy from the University of Chicago, and a Master of Business Administration from NYU. When she’s not working on housing, Ellen can usually be found above water, kayaking, in the water, swimming, or below water doing SCUBA diving.